The auction saw 86 bids, many of them from companies that do business (or want to do business) with Apple.

The coffee chat will happen at Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters. The winner may bring along one guest. Travel and lodging for the visit, which will last between 30 minutes and an hour, are not covered.

Visitors will be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement and are subject to a security screening. Also, they can't liveblog or tweet during their meeting.

The move fits in with the more open public persona Cook has adopted since replacing late Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs. In the past 18 months Cook has met with members of Congress on Capitol Hill and toured factories in China that make Apple products.

By some measures, a $600,000 coffee meeting with the chief of the world's leading tech company might be a bargain. An anonymous bidder paid $3.4 million last year for lunch with star investor Warren Buffett.